Edward h



(No Model.)`

E. H. JGHNSUN.

GONDUIT ELECTRIC RAILWAY.

No. 509,622. Patented N0v.28,1893.

d f n d n I viz.

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

EDWARD H. JOHNSON, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

CONDUIT ELECTRIC RAILWAY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 509,622, dated November 28, 1893.

Application Bled May 16, 1892. Serial No. 483,249. (No model.) Patented in Belgium June 30, 1892. No. 100.237; in France .Tune 30, 1892, No. 222,720; in England .Tune 30, 1892, No. 12,191, and in Italy July 15,1892, LXIII, 247.

.To all whom t may concern.-

Be it known that I, EDWARD I-I. JOHNSON, a citizen of the United States, residing in New York city, county and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Electric Railways, (for which I have received patents in Belgium, No.100,237, dated June 30, 1892; in France, No. 222,720, dated June 30, 1892; in Great Britain, No. 12,191, dated June 30, 1892, and in Italy, No. 247, VOLLXIII, dated July 15, 1892,) of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to that class of electric railways in which one or more of the supplying conductors are placed in a conduit beneath the surface of the ground, contact being obtained by means of suitable current collectors carried by the moving cars and entering said conduit'through an opening at the surface of the ground.

The object of my invention is to provide a construction for the conduit, the current collector andthe devices for keeping the conduit clean, whereby the loss by leakage from one side of the circuit to the other,dne to the presence of moisture or foreign bodies, is reduced to a minimum, and whereby the conductor and the conduit itself may be kept clean and continuously freed from moisture and from dust, snow and other foreign materials, liable to impair the efficiency of the traveling contact and obstruct its passage.

My invention consists in the various novel devices and combinations of devices employed by mein accomplishing the above-named object, as hereinafter set forth and claimed.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in whichM Figure 1 is a perspective View of a portion of an electric railway conduit embodying my invention; Fig. 2, a longitudinal section of the same, showing the cleaning scoop and the current collecting device; Fig. 3, a front view of the cleaning scoop 3 and Fig. t, a section illustrating another form and arrangement for the conductor.

A is a continuous body of insulating material placed underground between the rails B, B, and held and supported in any suitable manner. As shown, this body, which constitutes the conduit, is held in a suitable iron framework O, provided at the surface of the ground with the slotirons a, a.

The insulating body A may be made of any suitable durable, moisture-proof, insulating material, such as a vitreous material, stone, slate or cement, or it may be of wood or other fibrous material impregnated or treated in any of the well-known ways with any substance which renders it moisture-proof and increases its insulating properties. The said insulating body A is provided with a groove D, extending longitudinally throughout its length, said groove being open at the top of the conduit, and, preferably, closed at the bottom. This is a narrow, open, unobstructed groove, having at no point in its depth a width greater than its width atthe top orsurface. Preferably, it is made widest at the top and narrows gradually toward thebottom,

as shown. Such groove may have at the top a width of, say, threequarters of an inch, and at the bottom, say, one-half of an inch. Preferably laid in the bottom of this groove is the conductor E, which, preferably, has a grooved upper surface, as shown. I prefer to make this conductor of iron, and to use therewith a magnetic contact device to be presently described, but if such a magnet-ic contact device is not employed, the conductor maybe made of copper orothersuitable metal.

Any suitable means may be employed, if desired, to hold the conductor in place, such means being such as will not interfere with the passage of the current collector along its upper side.

The groove D constitutes the conduit chamber for holding and protecting the conductor. The opposite side of the circuit is preferably formed by the rails and the earth, in the ordinary Way. It will be seen that by using as the conduit chamber the single narrow slot or groove, the loss by leakage through moisture is practically done away with, since by making the slot of suliicient depth it is evident that, even if the slot were entirely filled with water, the body of waterwould be so small as not to furnish sutiicient conductivity to allow the passage of sufficient current to seriously aiect the operation of the rail` way; and this result may be obtained with certainty by estimating the resistance of a IOC from the conductor E to the surface is practically done away with.

In Fig. 2, F indicates a portion of a street car. Attached in any suitable manner to this car is the cleaning scoop G, which is a plow having a width and shape in cross-section such that it substantially fills the yconduit chamber D, but, preferably, so as to not touch the sides of the chamber when placed centrally therein. It is formed with a sloping front edge, as shown, and when passing through the .conduit it takes up all dust and other materials which may accumulate therein, Acarries them to the surface and throws them yout of the slot opening. By this means, the cond-uit may be kept entirely clean. Preferably, the plow G `has attached to it a brush H, which bears on the conductor E, for the purpose of cleaning the surface thereof. I prefer to makethebodyb of the plowo'r scoop G lof insulating material, such as hard wood. There being no great wear upon it, such material 7will readily answer the purpose, and the plow may be readily changed if it wears out. By making this portion of insulating material, any danger of ashort circuit through the plow between the conductor E and the slotirons ais avoided. The upper portion c is preferably made of iron since it may wear against the slot-irons, and the toe d of the plow or scoop is also shod with iron. The scoop may be connected with the car in any suitable or well-known way which will enable it to maintain the same position with reference to the conduit and to follow the car as it passes around curves.

The plow G may itself have an attachment for-collecting the current from the conductor B. I prefer, however, to employ a separate cnrrentcollector, and, preferably, one which is maintained in contact with the conductor by electro-magnetic attraction. Such current collector consists of two brushes I, I, of iron wire, each held in a suitable back K, and such backs being united by an iron core, around which the wire which conveys current to the motor is given a sufficient number of turns, one end of such wire being soldered or otherwise connected to the magnet and the motor wire then being carried to the car, as shown at L. The current collector, like the cleaning scoop, is connected with the car in any suitable manner, and preferably so as to have its inclination reversible, so that it will trail behind the center of the car no matter in which direction the car is moving. This electro-magnetic currentcollector will adhere to the conductor with great force, although it may readily be drawn along it, and its use insures an eective electrical contact with the conductor at all times.

In the form shown in Fig. 4:, the conductor chamber is formed with osets or shoulders near its bottom, and the conductor consists of a LU-shaped strip of sheet-metal sprung into place beneath said shoulders and held thereby. f

What I claim is 1. Aconduit for electric railways, having a conductor chamber the diameter of which decreases continuously from its surface opening to its bottom, and said opening being the full width of thechamber at that point substantially as set forth.

2. A conduit for electric railways having a V-shaped conductor chamber, whose surface opening is the full width of .the chamber at that point substantially as set forth.

3. The method of cleaning an electric railway conduit consisting in moving through said conduit a device which lifts or conveys through the conduit opening such foreign materials as may have accumulated in the chamber, substantially as set forth.

4. The combinationin an electric railway of an open conduit, a car and a cleaning scoop adapted to throw material to the street surface, carried by the car and traveling within the conduit, substantially as set forth.

5. The combination, in an electric railway, of a continuous body of insulating material placed underground and provided with a continuous open longitudinal groove and a conductor in said groove, a car, and a cleaning scoop carried b y said car entering said groove and substantially filling the same, substantially as set forth.

6. The combination,in an electric railway, of a conduit for a conductor, a car, and a cleaning scoop carried by the car and substantially filling the conduit chamber, substantially as set forth.

7. The combination in an electric rail-way of a conduit having a conductor chamber the width of which decreases `continuously from its surface opening to its bottom, a car, and

.a cleaning scoop carried by the car and travcling in the conduit and having substantially the same size and-shape in cross-section as the conduit chamber, substantially as set forth.

8. The combination, in an electric railway, of a conduit containing a conductor, a car, a cleaning scoop, carried by the car and adapted to throw material to the street surface and va current collecting 4device' carried by said EDWD. H. JOHNSON.

Witnesses: Y

W. LAIRD GoLDsBoRoUGH, EUGENE COURAN.

IOC 

